I personally have never been to an interview, but drawing from what I have learned and seen, the most significant difference between effective and ineffective interviews is the structure of the interview process. In the least effective interviews, there was a casual, improvisational feel to the conversation. The interviewers asked broad questions and relied on casual conversation. Although these interviews were friendly, they weren’t reliable since different candidates were likely assessed against different questions and impressions of the interviewer. As mentioned in this week’s lectures, unstructured interviews are extremely susceptible to snap judgments, first impressions, and contrast effects that diminish consistency and fairness when it comes to hiring decisions. The most effective interviews I’ve seen, by contrast, were well-structured and job-related. The interviewer asked the same behavioral questions of each candidate, took notes, and focused on past experiences that were relevant to the job at hand. This increases reliability by using the same measure for all candidates and improves validity by tying the interview questions to actual job performance. Behavioral and situational questions are particularly useful since they show criterion-related validity by estimating candidates’ future performance based on prior behavior. If I had to advise my previous employers regarding their interview practices, I would suggest three improvements. First, perform a job analysis to determine the most important KSAOs for the position in question. Second, design a structured interview with behavioral or situational questions and benchmark answers. Third, require interviewers to assess candidates before discussing their impressions to reduce bias in the hiring process. This would significantly improve the reliability, validity, and overall effectiveness of their hiring practices while creating a more equitable process for all applicants.
Works Cited
Bock, Laszlo. Get a Job at Google. The New York Times, New York Times Company, 2014.
Buckingham, Marcus, and Curt Coffman. First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently. 2020 ed., Gallup Press, 2016.
Chamorro-Premuzic, Tomas, and Christine Steinmetz. The Perfect Hire. Scientific American Mind, vol. 24, no. 3, 2013, pp. 42–47.